Amazon.com Book Description (ISBN 0312304218, Hardcover)

nce a paradise for artists, slackers, and utopians, Seattle's spectacular ocean and mountain scenery has long bec-koned to those seeking an ideal city. Seattle and the Demons of Ambition tracks the astonishing ten years during which Seattle became the 'it' destination for new urbanites-and began to lose the struggle for its soul. Tracing the rise of Microsoft, Starbucks, Amazon, and other avatars of the new economy, balanced against the growing homelessness, child abuse, and cultural disenchantment that culminated in the 1999 World Trade Organization riots, Fred Moody offers a remarkable account of urban boosterism and underground rage. Seattle's struggle with itself mirrors our larger American dilemma, where technology and development build wealth, but leave behind troubling human consequences that go unnoticed at our peril.